The Flower Fades
by Matsuo Emi
Summary: Shinri'-verse. Lee-centric. Just when Lee thought he was beginning to win the heart of his Beautiful Cherry Blossom, the unthinkable happens.


**Shinri One Shot**

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**"The Flower Fades: Lee's Story"**

* * *

It was another beautiful afternoon in Konohagakure. The cheerful weather reflected Lee's mood as he skip jogged through the streets towards Sakura's house with a gleaming grin plastered on his face and a fragrant bouquet grasped in his hand.

"Good luck, bright flowers," he spoke to the smiling daisies and daylilies as he held them out in front of his face, "Your splendor is brilliant indeed, but I fear you will pale in comparison to Konoha's Beautiful and Most Fair Cherry Blossom! Though, regardless, I am sure you will brighten her day!"

His step faltered slightly as he considered her possible reactions to the flowers. From the moment the idea had sprung into his mind the evening before, he was uncertain whether or not flowers were an appropriate level of affection considering the development in their relationship. Surely, since she had so openly hugged him and was automatically adding the affectionate suffix to his name, they were practically dating, and technically… an item. Right?

Though they had only been training together.

And she had only hugged him because he had given her the book on the eight gates.

And she hadn't said anything about dating, or being his girlfriend…

No, no. It was more than that. Lee was certain. Even though their last training session had ended abruptly, and a little awkwardly, Lee was sure that she was just tired, and maybe a little down, and as a responsible and caring boyfriend, it was his duty to bring her flowers and cheer her up before he escorted her like a gentleman to the training fields for their next lesson together.

Lee had felt something more from her for the first time. Finally, Sakura was beginning to see him as he saw her. Everything was going perfectly.

With renewed youthful vigor he skipped around the corner towards Sakura's house, his heart leaping with glee and anticipation.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

The Hokage was standing at Sakura's front door, with two ANBU escorts on either side of her. At the threshold, Sakura's mother stood, barely, clinging to the door frame for support and sobbing hysterically.

Tsunade-sama was consoling her as best as she could. One fear raced through Lee's mind and sent him running desperately over to the scene; something had happened to Sakura-chan.

The Hokage turned to watch Lee approach, "Lee, what are you-"

"Where's Sakura-chan!?" he interrupted, his eyes wide with fear and the flower bouquet clutched to his chest.

Tsunade gave him a pitying glance before turning back to Sakura's mother, "I'm sorry, again. I'm sure you wish to be alone right now, but if you ever feel the need to talk, or just be with someone, my office will always be open to you."

Sakura's mother gave a weak nod, and slowly closed the door. Lee could hear her collapse onto the floor just on the other side of the door, and out of instinct, he tried to get past the Hokage and into the house to comfort her. Tsunade held out her hand and stopped him, mouthed a gentle 'no' and gestured for him to walk with her as she slowly made her way back to the Hokage's Tower. She dismissed the ANBU following her, and with a nod, they disappeared over the roofs.

"Tsunade-sama," Lee pleaded once the stoic guards were gone, "What's going on?"

"I'm sure you've figured out a little," she began, obviously trying to collect herself and remain professional, "It's Sakura."

Lee nodded frantically and tears beginning to form in his wide eyes.

"Lee, there's no gentle way to put this, and as a Shinobi I hope your training has been able to prepare you for this blunt reality," Tsunade took a deep breath and Lee felt his heart clench painfully in his chest. He stopped breathing, dreading and anticipating the worst, but hoping for the best.

"_She's on a long mission_," he told himself, "_Got sick and forced to retire, or is being recruited for a force outside of Konoha and we'll never see her again…yeah, something like that…_"

"Sakura is dead."

* * *

"_Sakura-san!" Lee bowed deeply to show his respect for his beautiful Cherry Blossom._

"_Sakura-san! If your day is free, I would be honored if you would join me for dinner!" he made his proposition with impressive youthful vigor, making him glow with pride._

"_That would be great, Lee-san, but I have training with Shisou," she said mournfully, but added with admirable hope, "Maybe another time?"_

_

* * *

  
_

"_Sakura-san!" Lee pushed his way through the crowd in pursuit of his beautiful Cherry Blossom._

"_Hey," she greeted with charisma as she delivered Lee the shock of his life, "Wanna train together some time?"_

_

* * *

  
_

"_But I'll do it for you… Sakura-chan," Lee relented, realizing that Gai-sensei would forgive his transgression if he understood that it was for the love of his beautiful Cherry Blossom._

"_See you," Sakura called, waving at him with barely restrained enthusiasm, "Lee…kun."_

_

* * *

  
_

The breath that he had been holding tore itself out of his throat, though he made no sound. He was mute with shock, and could not bring himself to place another foot ahead to continue walking.

The Hokage stood by silently, watching. His shoulders were shaking, and he was caved in on himself, as if holding in an immense force that would rip itself out of his body if he relented. The bouquet of flowers, which were still clenched in his fist, trembled like his body.

"No…" he finally spoke, in a whine of disbelief that trailed into full-blown denial, "No! It's not true! I refuse to believe-!"

"Lee!" Tsunade interrupted him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up at her wistfully, and tears began to fall from his eyes. She didn't say anything, but what could she say?

Unashamedly, Lee cried for the loss of his beautiful Cherry Blossom.

"Take a few days off," the Hokage finally suggested, "If you need it."

He nodded weakly, and watched through blurred vision as the Hokage turned and continued down the street without him.

* * *

Lee kept the flowers. Determined to give them to her, he pampered the cut and dying flowers like children so they would remain alive long enough to be presented to her during the funeral.

When the day finally came, there was no sun. The rain was harsh, and violent, and Lee sheltered the weak and wilting flowers in his rain cloak as best as he could.

The small crowd in the cemetery was quiet, and a few familiar faces turned to greet Lee with fake smiles as he approached. Several people from their Genin days had gathered, and Lee was heartened to find that even his teammates were there.

TenTen and Hinata were consoling Ino, who was staring listlessly at the fresh gravesites. Behind them, Neji stood seemingly uninterested, but Lee knew that at the very least, he was sympathetic of their loss.

Lee didn't have the energy to fake a smile of his own, he only glanced at their faces, then down at the flowers he had brought.

"Did anyone find out what had happened?" Neji's emotionless question seemed to Lee like an attempt to show interest, and maybe some twisted consolation to the group that had gathered.

TenTen nodded slowly, licked her dry lips, and tried to explain, "Tsunade-sama said… she said, Sakura was gathering herbs… and got attacked by… _bandits_."

She had stressed the last word as if in utter disbelief. Lee himself was aghast at the cause. Surely, he had trained Sakura well enough to fend off _bandits_?

"Really…" Neji observed in a detached tone that Ino obviously didn't like.

"What the hell are you even doing here!?" she turned on him and shrieked, fresh tears burning themselves down her cheeks, "You aren't welcome here! Get out! Go _away_!"

"Ino-chan…" Hinata whispered, desperate to see the situation resolved. Shikamaru, who had been watching at a safe distance, finally decided to make his way over to Ino and try to stop her from doing anything stupid.

Ino shook him off, and went after Neji as if intent on assaulting him. Relenting to Ino's request, Neji made himself scarce, and disappeared with a whisper of smoke before the infuriated blond could reach him.

"It can't be true…" Lee finally spoke once the others had grown quiet again. His voice was dry and sounded distant, even to his own ears. It was only then that he realized that he hadn't spoken in days.

Everyone turned to watch him as he made his way over to the soft muddy mounds of dirt next to the fresh granite slabs. Lee read the inscription on the second grave, and his heart broke again when he realized that Sakura's mother had died only a few days earlier.

"Ino…" he looked up at the approaching girl, his lips quivering, "What happened to her mother?"

"We don't really know," she admitted with a shake of her head, "She was brought into the hospital the day after Sakura… was found. She didn't speak a word, She didn't eat. But there was nothing physically wrong. One morning, we found her… she had died in her sleep. We have no idea…"

Ino trailed off, and started crying afresh. Lee tried to comfort her, but his heavy heart was unable to show anything other than sympathy for the grief. He felt it too.

The Hokage stood behind the graves, and said a few words. Lee barely heard her over the sound of the pouring rain; he was too lost in his own thoughts.

"_I should have trained her harder,"_ he blamed himself, "_I should have asked her to train long ago, not go on dates or useless things like that! I'm stupid. I was so stupid!"_

Ino took Tsunade's place behind the gravestones, and tried to remember Sakura fondly, with silly anecdotes and childhood memories, but soon, she was crying too hard to continue, and the mood was lost.

Only a few minutes later, the small crowd of Shinobi slowly dispersed, eventually leaving Lee to stare at the graves, alone. The dying flowers hung limply at his side.

"It isn't true," he moaned to himself, "You were too strong for… We had just…It can't be true…"

The silent graves didn't respond. Lee knelt down, laid the fragile flowers in the mud at Sakura's grave, and watched as the unforgiving rain tore them apart.

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A/N: The first in a series of one shots that came flying out of my brain one day. Since Shinri and Soutou are so Sakura-centric, I thought it would be cool to show some of the other 'behind the scenes' parts of the stories that Sakura wasn't there for. They are going to go in chronological order, be from a very specific character POV, and be quite far behind the most recent update in the main story so I don't accidentally write in too many spoilers. Though, there are some hints and stuff, and some reminders of important themes and issues in them, so they are useful too. The next one is Ino's POV. Thanks for reading, and check out my other stories on my profile if you are a new reader, so you won't be lost! SPOILERS ZOMG!


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